On the current accessories market, there are items of equipment that can receive signals for digital terrestrial television (TNT) directly on a laptop computer. The reception of digital terrestrial television signals on a laptop computer can benefit from the computation power of the said computer to decode a digital image, particularly for decoding a flow of digital images in. MPEG2 or MPEG4 format. This equipment is most frequently marketed in the form of a unit with two interfaces, namely one RF (radiofrequency) radio interface for connection to an interior or exterior VHF-UHF antenna and a USB interface for the connection to the computer.
The devices currently on the market are generally constituted by a separate antenna such as a whip or loop type antenna mounted on a unit carrying a USB connector.
In the French patent application no. 05 51009 filed on 20 Apr. 2005, the applicant proposed a compact wideband antenna covering the entire UHF band, constituted by a dipole type antenna. This antenna is associated with an electronic card that can be connected to a portable device, notably by using a USB type connector.
More specifically, the antenna described in the French patent application no. 05 51009, comprises a first and a second conductive arm supplied differentially, one of the arms, called first arm, forming at least one cover for an electronic card. More specifically, the first arm has the form of a box into which the electronic card, comprising the processing circuits of the signals received by the dipole type antenna, is inserted. These circuits are most often connected to a USB type connector enabling the connection to a laptop computer or any other similar device.
The solution proposed in this patent application covers the entire UHF band. However, to be able to provide the widest possible cover with a product of this type, it is important to be able to receive, in addition to the UHF band (470-862 MHz) at least the VHF-III band (174-225 . . . 230 MHz) in which some countries such as Germany or Italy continue to broadcast digital multiplexes.